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Shooting The Somme, How an Iconic Film Was Faked, Uncovering a Century of Controversy

Making a film of battle in 1916 and taking it direct to cinemas before the battle had ended was groundbreaking.The cameramen filmed with the troops and captured the dirt and horror of modern warfare, but after its acclaimed first screenings, doubts began to emerge as to the honesty of the film, producing a century of controversy. – Highly Recommended

NAME: Shooting The Somme, How an Iconic Film Was Faked, Uncovering a
Century of ControversyFILE: R2807AUTHOR: Bob CarruthersPUBLISHER: Pen & SwordBINDING: hard back PAGES: 304PRICE: £25.00GENRE: Non FictionSUBJECT: WWI, World War One, World War 1, First World War, The Great
War, trench warfare, Battle of the Somme, 1916, movie making, motion pictures

ISBN: 1-47386-868-8

IMAGE: B2807.jpgBUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/yxtskuj3LINKS: DESCRIPTION: Making a film of battle in 1916 and taking it direct to
cinemas before the battle had ended was groundbreaking.The cameramen
filmed with the troops and captured the dirt and horror of modern warfare,
but after its acclaimed first screenings, doubts began to emerge as to the
honesty of the film, producing a century of controversy. - Highly RecommendedThis book provides the first balanced review of how this groundbreaking film was shot, edited and
presented, including details of how some scenes were manufactured.Today it is perhaps difficult to appreciate the challenges of shooting a film in battle during 1916,
pulling the elements together and making it flow for the audience. It is also perhaps difficult to
appreciate today just how sensational the film was and how great the impact on the audiences. In
1916, movie film making may have been a young industry but was not new, with several decades
of experimenting under its belt. Photography in war was also more than half a century old and this
gave much knowledge of the challenges of operating relatively vulnerable equipment on the battle
field, being close enough to the action to get the most revealing shots, while staying alive. There were
also challenges in shooting action shots where there was no control over lighting, or the opportunity to
reshoot any footage that needed to be better.Once film was shot there were challenges in getting it back to the photo lab for processing. Then the
processed film had to be put together and edited to produce a flow that would hold the attention of the
audience. Action footage would include imperfect scenes and the director would have to decide
whether to use authentic footage, or fabricate new footage, to produce the effect required on the audience.Today we are used to phone camera footage shot by amateurs and film shot be professional war
correspondents, where we assume that what we are viewing is authentic film. The mass of images
available of any specific event is assumed to provide some level of authenticity by comparing footage
from different cameras. However, film/video is still edited and enhanced and this is easier today in a
digital environment. In reality, digital filming offers a great many opportunities to significantly enhance
video and modify elements to completely alter the information portrayed. Shooting the Somme was a
very interesting prototype for today's instant documentary, in addition to being a fascinating story of
how early combat cameramen and film directors rose to the challenges and exploited the opportunities
that were available to them.